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Friday night at the pines, 9:15 p.m., all troops present and accounted for. Now we are on our way along the muddy farm roac Gestinea for Mitre Flats. Wx is on our side. Status Code-Frl - Grow» splits into 3; I seem to be faced with a°/5,, loss airzady. Hever mind, I guess we will see @hum later, iz th tater as it turned out. Before much longer, we are entering the: bush at a rather brisk pace. - The track is up and down and: I am beginning to :verheat, better slow down. Refreshments ware in the form of occasional streams. Status Code-Fr2 -- My torch is beginning to fail, A fire fiy would have more light in its tail and still find the track; light is so dim it would not biind a mosquito. Further on I encounter some of the:lost troops. Reassured that all..is not lost we amble on but soon separate due to the dim torch light. How muchfurther is it? I ask myself lcoking at my watch. I am beginning to wonder if I will make Utecnccncernaacceedonceseseeeeseal® ter that night the end of the track looms: Status code-Fr3 ~- Torch light ia so weak I car't really see the ground. How did I avoid. stumbling .down that last steep section? - Thanks for the extra light, Harry. Arriving at Mitre Flats, we found one fly already partly set up all. troops present. Fine, let's go find another site. Once set up, I was anxious to try out my new self inflating urethane foam-filled Fairvdeown porta-pad. What a great night I had on that pad. - Saturday mornin 1g arrived with the promise ‘of a fine day. .-The group left in two stages, the advanced party with instructions. to stop some where above the bush line. Status Code-Sal - Trip leader's legs are beginning to complain, This is going ta be a Blow climb, Will he make it? Finally the tai? enders rendezyous with the advanced partt and after 2 gcd .us¢ venture om again towards Peggy's Peak. Wx was @ Di* Cle Ay but still very sunny. Next stop was Mitee, giviny us 4 grand view of what lay shead. What is that wintte spct et Angle Knob?,' we'wondered, On to Brocket with views of Tabie ridge, Tarn Rigge, Dorset Creek Hut and our intended route. Another burst of @B=rTGY got us onto Girdlestone arcund noon. From here it was down to the tarn below, Adkin. Where is this tarn? J was beginning to wonder. It soon turned up, in fact there are two, we chose the more sneiterec tarn fox lunch stop. That gave trip leader a much needed rest. From here on the ‘going was easier. Wx had turned very cloudy but warm in spite of the wind. To keep us company along the way there were heaps:of grass-hoppers... One even dived into the tarn at MidKing. Status. -Code£9- - One drowned grasshopper, Oh Dear, With the weather being so hot and sunny along the tops we found it convenient stopping at al:nost every tarn along the way. Next obstacle was getting past those gravelly . lumps known ® Broken Axe Pinnacles. ow do wa get: over them? I wondered, Well, some went over some went down, others went down and up.
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Status Code-Ssa3 - Help! I'm stuck in a steep gut, running out of handholds, pa k nearly throwing me off balance, can't get up or down, now what? Finally I managed to get out of it. What relief I felt. Harry and Merv went down lower and ¢ame out more easily. Next time { will take the easy way out. Guess what someone found after that? A Plastic bag containing 4 b&cuit.s and a note. It had been Je Ft by Ian Buncks and Co. intended for the FE group. Some mean critter in my group scoffed 3% biscuits and left a rude note. Our next stop was Soutr King. By this time it was decided there would not be sufficient time to visit the crashed aircraft at Angle I Knob. On once more to Angle Knob. This stage was windy as we made our way past the tarns. Yet another but final rest on the leeward side of Angle Knob. We finally saw what that distant white spot was - snow! From angle Knob we made the final stretch to Jumbo. It looked quite reasonable for the flys. Wind was light at first, but later increased. A red fly was sighted at South King. That must be the FE's. Soon they were engulfa’ by mist. Now to get tea on the go. A makeshift shelter was constr cted of snowfoam and rocks. Reactors fired up and billies parked. The white spirits primus did well. The gas primis was terminated and my kero primus ignited. That really helped things along. Sunset was colourful, but I was too busy with stew, so no photos, Status Code Sa4 = Both primuses struggling, will tea-be cooked in time? It could be a bit grim. To make the most of remaining fuel we piled in all-the grub there was. Just as well. Stew was ready as the primuses expired at 8:30pm. I think the © fuel was exhausted! It would be too much to bear if these poor gringos missed out on a bucket of hot slop, What a:': great stew it was, too. Strong winds continued during the night. By morning they had not abated. Status Code Sul - 6:30am, strong gust of wind strikes blue fly, cauSing tent poles to bend; they now resemble umbrella handles, Wind continued with the fly flapping away madly like Lion NZ's mainsail in the screaming sixties. Around 9:15 am out of the mist came the FE's calling in for a short visit...then continued their outward journey via East Holdsworth. As for my group we packed and left around l0Oam. Wx was very cloudy with a possibility of rain. The group split one lot going cown East Holdsworth, the Cther to Jumbo Hut for a brew and breakfast. It was then down to the Atiwhakatu river where we later met the Medium group at lunch, From here some opted for the track, others took to the river. Status Code FO7 — Zoom Reduction Fault. Push zoom button. Push ready button. End of trip. Status Codes - Courtesy Rank Xerox. Cast: in order of disappearance: Steven Beechy, Andrew Chisholm, Rohan Harrigan, Peter Logan, Merv Mitchell, Harry Smith, Matthew Tebbs, Peter Jackson(trip leader, assistant chef, and scribe)